Hello everyone!

I recently got badly addicted to something called Laserdiscs and couldn't withstand importing my first LD player from Japan. In the end, I opted for a CLD-R7G and am definitely not disappointed by the image quality so far!

Now to the "repair" part... everything arrived more or less safe, and after popping the laser back into its track (the E0 almost gave me a heart attack), I managed to connect it to my TV via S-Video. Unfortunately, it seems the golden chassis developed some stains over the years. I assume it might be due to nicotine and smoke, but cannot tell. They're of a dark yellowish color and circular. There was obviously some sort of receiver or decoder placed on top of the player.

Those stains weren't in the original photos of the online listing, but I now try to work my way around it. I'll try to upload an adequate image for you to see. Does anybody have any advice on how to clean those stains if that's even possible? I've already tried dish soap but do not want to risk alcohol-containing cleaners. After all, the chassis is aluminum and I don't want to cause any further damage.

All help is highly appreciated, and I'm also happy to hear about any advice concerning settings, scaling, or all the experience you've gained over the years.

This is my first post here and I'm already truly amazed by this community. I hope to contribute to all various kinds of topics in the future!

Thank you in advance, and greetings from Germany

It arrived safe and sound…but you had to pop the laser onto its track.

Is this rock bottom? When it comes to callous disregard for irreplaceable antiques I mean.

It didn’t arrive safe and sound. You broke it by shipping it and miraculously it was fixable. You got super lucky. That’s what actually happened. It did not arrive safe and sound. This is yet another first post by a noob who broke his player in shipping. The trend continues.

Put the player in a proper rack where it will be impossible to see the stains; non-problem solved.

My advice for scaling is similarly simple, don’t buy a crappy TV. Don’t buy the largest panel for the money to save $300 and then spend $3000 on a series of boxes second guessing all of them till the end of your days. Just buy the newest Bravia you can with a composite port, plug it in and forget about it.

Please don’t mail any players. When you get bored with LD please sell the unit locally.

And there goes my hope of finding a non-toxic community I guess. Please explain to me how exactly it was my fault for importing a player.

I acknowledge I got lucky but you neither need to blame me nor call me stupid. Everything is working and I'm not second-guessing my purchase at all. If you can't contribute any positive advice, please keep your thoughts to yourself.

The world would be a better place if we all could just enjoy our hobby and the little things in life... but you do you.

Thanks!

Hi exixx, just ignore Zeta.
He is kinda the old grumpy grandpa of this forum.
Nobody is allowed to enter „his“ hobby and dare to share joy.
He is mad about people risking LD players getting shipped so someone who is enthusiastic can use them while he is also blaming everyone who is not using his player. You get the point.

Nevertheless: Welcome to the forum! Most folks here are friendly and very helpful.

Cheers, Markus

Anytime you need to open something to fix it didn't arrive safe. Zeta may sound grumpy but this is a truth, truth hurts.

Those stains look like something was on top, rubber from the feet of another electronic.
Try some window cleaner, if that doesn't work don't do anything, just live with it, sorry but that's how they are.

Now that its working I do hope you enjoy LD

He is absolutely right about it being a bad idea for players to get shipped in general (as with about everything that is likely to get damaged).

The problem is how it is communicated which is… rude and not welcoming to newcomers at all.

If being straight with people saves a single player from being smashed then don’t care how many strangers I offend. This is not a joke. We are quite truely running out of players and the main failure point isn’t use, it isn’t rude people, it’s shipping players. I’m not interesting in supercharging the nose dive of this format’s existence….with a SMILE.

We aren’t talking about Apple TVs or bootleg Jordans fentanyl or anything like that where there will always be more because China never stops making the stuff. It’s been 15 years since the last players were made…and they didn’t sell that great to begin with. These machines were almost never shipped direct to customers back in the day and weren’t really designed to be. They are fragile, and now the plastic is much more brittle. The thing might be 40 years old doing it’s job just fine…and then little Timmy overseas wants to see the “real Star Wars” and a month later it’s in the dumpster. I can’t be the only one grossed out by that kind of pointless tragic waste.

Sometimes being here is like watching people shoot skeet with original Beatles singles.

I know this is far from the original topic, but I completely acknowledge the concern. The players in existence need to be maintained and stored safely.

The truth is nevertheless, that if this hobby is to persist, it at some point needs to be passed on to the next generation. I am barely over 20 years old, and I would never intend to throw this important piece of history away. I've spent weeks saving the money, hours deliberating, and reading through post after post on here... all to get a grasp of the whole subject. In the end, I was even ready to travel 6 hours to collect one by myself, even though it did not work eventually. Now, considering the extensive cleaning I did and all the dirt that was inside – also thanks to rein-o for advising the window cleaner – I promise you it is in better hands. The real question should be whether any Japanese person would have bothered keeping this player safely stored.

I may not know much about children, but I will protect this player like my firstborn. I don't want to earn your respect and I apologize for making it sound like I take this topic lightly, for I do not. I merely wanted to share my experience and the happy feelings felt when holding this player in my hands for the first time.

In the end, if it was just some technical equipment for me to be thrown away, I would not have bothered bearing the costs and risks of import or even creating an account on here. Everybody is free to despise those who do not mind destroying LDs or hardware, but please refrain from generalizing when all I wanted was some help with properly restoring it. Thank y'all for the insights though, I do not intend to further ship any players around the world

PS: I can't stop watching and hoarding all kinds of LDs off eBay!

This thread has gone from upsetting to pretty „deep and important“.
I love both of your last posts.
Seriously.

I'm sure mr beast would make a shitton of money doing that, would be kinda cool to watch

When you buy a player ask that they use a sturdy box, preferably double walled. Then demand that it is wrapped in a minimum of 2 inches of bubble wrap, I prefer even more. NO packing peanuts anywhere as the weight of the player crushes the peanuts, the unit flops around inside the box, and small particles can get inside the player.

The shipments I’ve seen from Japan are double boxed but they use styrofoam which does not allow shock absorption. I’ve had to help people fix units due to this. I’ve had people in North America send me LD-S2 units and by the time they get to me the unit broke thru the box and the peanuts all fall out and then they have trouble understanding the damage ruined the player.

You cannot do anything to make deliveries 100% damage free but you can ask for the best available practice.

Don't listen to Zeta, he's full of crap. He lives in the United States of America. There is ALWAYS an LD player for sale nearby. In Germany and my country, Australia they are much more far and and in between (especially the good ones). German and European sellers charge WAAAY too much on eBay SO you do USA or Japan imports. I've imported a dozen players over a decade from either the US or Japan. I think 1 player has arrived irreversably damaged from the US. One was damaged from Japan and I've recently repaired that.

If you want a good player, and you don't live in the good ol' US of A, you HAVE to import and ship. Sign of Zeta and some other US posters don't really understand this and they don't understand that importing and shipping usually goes smoothly (although there is always a greater risk as opposed to actually inspecting, testing and picking up by hand a player (I have done this once in the suburbs of Melbourne, the player worked for a few months and then had major problems leading to its death..))

So, be advised, the reality of a comfortable American LD fan is NOT your reality.